The IRSP in North Belfast have slammed Unionism for attempting to use the abandoned Hillview Retail park as a punishment against the Nationalist electorate by opposing a planning application to build 18 much needed homes on the site.
North Belfast representative and Housing activist Tarlach MacDhónaill has said, “North Belfast suffers from one of the highest housing waiting lists in the North, with some people having to wait for over 7 years in temporary shelters to call somewhere a home.”
In 2018 the IRSP made public calls to turn the entire site into social housing to help cater for the ever growing housing waiting list.
Tarlach went on to say, “In 2019, the electorate in North Belfast made a monumental decision to cast aside Unionism, and there is little doubt that the DUP are playing political games to punish the Nationalist electorate for their democratic decision by opposing this planning application.”
As part of the IRSPs Housing campaign we have called for a complete overhaul of the Housing system which includes transferring planning powers away from the sectarian institutions to independent local housing committee’s compromising of community activists, trade and tenant unions to ensure housing is not used for sectarian and political discrimination by based entirely on needs based.
